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Opposition’s meeting a photo op: Shah
Top leaders of 15 Opposition parties attended a grand meeting in Patna led by Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar
Calling Opposition’s grand meeting at Patna a “photo op,” Union home minister Amit Shah while addressing a public rally on the first day of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Friday said despite opposition’s best efforts, Narendra Modi will again become the Prime Minister in 2024 general elections with over 300 seats falling in the kitty of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The home minister laughed at the Opposition’s attempt to forge unity to defeat the BJP at the next hustings.
“Today, a photo session is going on in Patna where entire leaders of the Opposition have assembled on one stage. They want to convey a message that they would challenge the BJP, NDA and Modi ji. I would like to tell them that despite their attempts, unity among them is not possible. And, even if they forge unity and go to the people, Modi ji, with over 300 seats in the BJP, will again become the Prime Minister. It is definite,” he said.
Top leaders of 15 Opposition parties, including Congress, AAP, TMC, NCP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and others attended a grand meeting in Patna led by Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.
Shah said, “For three days the PM is on a US visit and after a long time US has given state guest honour to an Indian PM. This has never happened and would never happen again. So many agreements are taking place in the field of space, defence and semiconductors. Many companies are keen to invest in India. From the 11th economy in the world a decade ago to the fifth in nine years is all due to the efforts of Modi ji.”
The home minister also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying, “Amid all-round development, this Rahul Baba is always opposed to everything be it Article 370, Ram Temple, triple Talaq. By doing so, he has developed a tendency to oppose everything”.
In his speech, Shah also paid tributes to the party ideologue Dr Shyam Prasad Mukherjee and attributed the revocation of Article 370 to his supreme sacrifice.
“In 1953 Dr Mukherjee resigned as industries minister when Article 370 was introduced. Opposing “Do nishan, do vidhan and do pradhan,” he launched “satygraha” and reached here in J&K where he was arrested and murdered. Today is his martyrdom day and today his soul will be in peace because, on August 5, 2019, Modi ji revoked Article 370 once for all,” said Shah.
The home minister said that on nine years of BJP rule, the party has initiated a “Jan Sampark Abhiyaan” listing India’s achievements.
He also drew parallels between the UPA government and the nine years of Modi government.
“On one hand there were scams of ₹12 lakh crores during UPA rule and on the other not a single allegation of corruption on Modi government in nine years. It is Modi ji, who initiated a crusade against corruption. He ensured facilities in the lives of 60 crores people below the poverty line, for which they waited for 70 years,” he said.
Yet again Shah slammed Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis for several ills that plagued Jammu and Kashmir in the past 70 years.
“Under PM Modi ji a new Jammu and Kashmir has emerged on the horizon. The same J&K was ruled by three families and Article 370 hindered development all these years. Forty-two thousand people were killed in terrorism and they said that Article 370 should be kept intact,” he said.
“I want to ask Abdullahs and Muftis that who is responsible for the killings of 42,000 people. Under Modi ji, terrorism has now been contained completely. Today Gujjars and Paharis have come here… tell me would you have got the benefit of reservation had Article 370 not been revoked,” he added.
Shah further said, “One terror incident took place and Mehbooba Mufti starts speaking loudly that terrorism hasn’t gone yet. I want to tell Mufti madam and Abdullahs that in 10 years of UPA rule, 7,327 terror incidents took place compared to only 2,350 in nine years of the BJP rule, which are down by 70 percent.”
Similarly, 2,056 people were killed in the UPA government and only 377 were killed in nine years of the BJP, which also is not acceptable to us. Following the revocation of Article 370, there were only 32 calls of protests in 47 months while incidents of stone pelting were down by 90 percent. These figures tell that situation has improved in J&K, he added.
He also cited an all-time record of 1.88 crore tourists visiting J&K last year, ₹28,400 crore industrial package, G20 summit in Kashmir, nine new medical colleges, 15 nursing colleges, the addition of 600 more medical seats, IIT and IIM to the BJP government’s resolve to put J&K on the path of progress.
